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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mexican WhiteBoy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Identity
Fate vs. Opportunity
Violence, Power, and Coping Mechanisms
Coming of Age
Family, Friendship, and Culture
Summary
Analysis
1. Danny and Uno go to downtown San Diego to see the Padres play. Danny only has six days left in National City. The boys are excited to be there, as neither has been to a professional game before. Uno is acting nicer than usual to Danny. Danny wants to buy them both a hotdog and approaches the vendor in the stands. When he sees the hot dog vendor’s face, Danny realizes it’s the scout who’s been following him all summer. They both recognize each other, and the man quickly walks away. Danny follows.
Uno is probably acting nicer to Danny because of whatever Sofia told him about Javier, but it’s still not clear exactly what Uno knows. The scout seems to try to hide from Danny, so at this point it becomes clear that he is not a scout after all.
Themes
2. Danny yells to the scout and catches up with him. Danny asks why he is selling hot dogs, and he replies says that he’s not a scout—he works for the stadium selling hot dogs. He pulls Danny aside and explains that Javier asked him to look after Danny. He says that Javier brags about Danny, and that he himself can see that Danny is talented. The scout met Danny’s dad in prison, when Javier saved his life by beating up a group of Black men who were attacking him. Danny finally understands that his dad is still in prison and that he never really went to Mexico.
Danny continues to think of the man as “the scout” after learning the truth, finding it difficult to process the new information. The man’s job explains why he wears a Padres cap and why he said he worked for the Padres. It’s ironic that Danny wished so desperately that his dad was watching over him—Javier really was looking after Danny, but now that he has knowledge of the full situation, Danny no longer wants or needs his father’s guidance or approval. It’s not clear if Javier is in prison for hitting Wendy, for attacking the man at the beach, or for a different incident, but it is implied that it is for some act of physical violence.
Themes
3. Danny returns to his seat, telling Uno he forgot to buy the hot dogs. He can’t process the news, and he feels depleted. Uno can tell something is wrong, and he tries to lighten the mood. He tells Danny that he’s better than some of the current Padres pitchers, but Danny doesn’t care. He feels, for the first time since Danny's dad left, that it doesn’t matter how good a pitcher he is.
The change in how Danny feels about the quality of his pitching is the climax of the novel. Up until this point, Danny cared about his pitching only to impress Javier. Danny realizes now that the Javier he imagined never really existed.
Themes
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4. When Danny gets home from the game, he goes in the bathroom and looks in the mirror. He’s confused about why no one ever told him Danny's dad is in jail, but he feels no emotion. He digs a pair of tweezers into his arm. Sofia knocks on the bathroom door. Danny cuts into his arm until he feels a deep pain. Sofia yells to open the door as Danny realizes he can’t get the bleeding to stop. He finally opens the door, and she sees his wounded arm. Sofia cries as she tells Danny repeatedly that he has nothing to do with Javier being in jail. He says he knows, but as Sofia says over and over that he didn’t do anything wrong, he eventually responds, “I must have.” She gets a towel for his arm. They lie together on the cot until Sofia falls asleep.
Danny’s self-harm up until this point has always been a way of coping with extreme negative emotions, but now it’s a reaction to feeling no emotion. Danny may not feel any emotions simply because he is unable to process the news about Javier. When Danny thought Javier left because he was sick of white people, Danny blamed himself. Now, he blames himself for Javier going to jail, even though there is no logical reason for this. Much of Danny’s struggle with anxiety over his self-image has stemmed from blaming himself for Javier leaving.
Themes
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